Is it just me or do the economics of Steem not make sense?
I see the marketing hook here. Get paid to share content. Reddit on a blockchain. Your upvotes and your content can generate you revenue.
It just doesn't seem scalable, nor does it seem to make sense at current levels.
I am just as excited to see true micro-transactions and micro-tipping come to fruition... but when I see someone making $100 on a 3 line comment, it just doesn't make sense.
I think it makes sense for people to be able to choose to give $0.05 along with an upvote, or $0.01 ... but I don't understand how users are just "generating" $ for posting and commenting.
I want to love Steem.
I want it to replace reddit as my daily go to news source.
I want it to succeed and I want people to get paid for creating and surfacing great content and discussions...
I just don't see how the economics of Steem are making any cents.
I made 3 comments so far and my balance is $8.50 or so.
I provided barely ANY value to any discussions ... how is it possible that my few comments and a couple of suggestions is worth $8?
As an altcoin trader, I understand the speculative frothiness of the STEEM cryptocurrency market on Bittrex - but as a user and an entepreneur, the dollar values I am seeing beside people's posts and comments don't make any sense.
Here's a little about me so you can see where my mindset is:
I'm a serial entrepreneur. I've been developing apps, games and web products since 2008. I've had millions of users play my games, and I've had top 15 overall iOS apps on the USA app store.
I'm an avid user of reddit.
I'm an early bitcoin adopter and I've been trading altcoins since 2013.
I've done successful crowdfunding campaigns in the past for films and games.
I'm a marketing specialist - social marketing, amazon product marketing, app store optimization, search engine optimization - etc.
Value is subjective. Just because you don't perceive that you provided value it doesn't mean the people who voted up your content didn't gain something from consumption of your content.
Obviously you provided 8.50 of value. Fair is fair.
I believe when you created the account you received some SteemPower which is an estimated value. So maybe you didn't make money on those 3 comments, but had money already.
That is a good point. I didn't think of that.
Its all about steem power, the more steem power a user has that upvotes a post or comment the more that is rewarded.
So it is about attracting those with more steem power if one is to look at steemit as a money making endevor.
I love the idea of Steemit. I have a blog and I will experiment with posting my drone photography content here. I am also a trader by profession so I want to explore the market making opportunities. I like the community and will try to be a part. However, the economics of the whole thing seems a bit strange with many possible unintended consequences. I am going to snuggle up with the white paper very soon. I was a "late adopter" and only started in the past few days so my steem power is small.
The high amounts are because of the small userbase in relation to market cap. As new folks flock in the money will spread wider.